As soon as you turn the corner in the gallery, your eyes follow the floor to four massive blocks of marble (unfinished sculptures) on both sides of the room, and then you fix on it. The David stands under the only noteable source natural light in the room, and it is truly a presence in every sense of the word. It is difficult to look away from it, perhaps afraid the figure might move. The figure I had once thought was at rest following the battle with Goliath was actually set for the battle to begin. His weight is shifted onto one foot as if ready to shift his weight and begin running towards the giant. However, he is actually prepaing to launch a rock (held in his right hand) from a sling shot, which has broken off. The remaining evidence of it is a strap across his shoulders and around his back.
Even his toes were gripped for battle. An odd observation was the appearance of broken little toes. Like the bent shape a little toe takes after it has been jammed into a door frame one too many times. If you don't know what that looks like, take a look at mine. Scott pointed out that since they are near the edges of the marble, Michelangelo may have had to work within the spacial limitations of the marble piece. This was a piece of marble that Michelangelo had to ask to use. And SACI students take a field trip to the quarry where this piece and virgin marble for other noted sculptures were taken.
I noticed as I walked around him that he appears much larger than the replica in the Piazza della Segnoria and city hall. Scott shared that Botticelli (who also sculpted a David figure) joked about Michelangelo's figure looking like a large "bags of nuts," referring to its muscles.
Photos weren't permitted in this area, and we were reminded every few minutes when someone would say in a strong, bored Italian accent "NO-FO-TOS." Regardless of how tempting it was, I respected their request, so I have nothing to show other than a few trinkets that will be added to the HPU study abroad table.
The most valuable piece of information was a comment Michelangelo left behind. He saw David trapped in the marble, and he had to let him out. His unfinished works were just as notable, although on a much smaller scale and of course unfinished, yet you could see where each was headed. The viewer's imagination is left to complete the projects.
After seeing David, we returned to the hotel to pack a quick overnight bag and then walked the four blocks to the train station. We were able to get two seats on Eurostar Italia, 1.5 hours to Rome for a reasonable 38 euro each.
The train was very nice, crowed with teen and 20-something groups of students. The Tuscan countryside whizzed by quickly, but a hillside villa stood on each of the outcroppings. Any of them could be the one that housed Bromasole, the house that helped Diane Lane's character rebuild her life, her will to laugh, and her ability to love after a painful divorce. This country contains that kind of magic and charm. It's not there when you look for it, like when Scott asked me on Monday if Florence had charmed me yet. It hadn't. But this country sneaks in on you slowly, like cool air in open window during late fall. At first you don't notice it, but eventually the crispness of the air is so that you are acutely aware of it and you wonder why you didn't notice it before. That's what day 3 was about for me.
Scott found a hostel/apt in his travel book that was just blocks from the Rome train station, which was also the only intersection of Metro Line A and Line B. The Beehive was owned by a woman whose dream was to move from Boston to Rome and open a hotel. She did well. It was a quaint, well-kept hotel, hostel, and cafe with a private courtyard and ring-in security. The cafe serves only vegetarian food, and prices are on an honor code-type system. You pay what you think the food is worth, or in some cases, you pay what you have. They have free internet and don't charge for towel, very refreshing since his stuff was in a bookbag and mine was in a souvenir plastic bag. No space for a towel. We took the last 2 beds in the co-ed hostel, sure that we would be the room's oldest occupants.
Later that night, we found out we were right. We dropped our overnight stuff and walked back to the train/Metro station.
To make the most of our time, we visited the Colesium first. I was shocked that it was in the middle of city life (streets, Metro stops, etc.). The city had literally grown up around it. Up because after thousands of years of settling and building up the ground surrounding the Colesium, we truly walked downhill to it.
It was incredible to stand in front of, almost surreal. This was a structure I had seen in photos since I studied world history in elementary school, and I was standing in front of it. Despite all the photos, I learned several valuable detals. 1) The Colesium is not round with walls all the way around. Instead, it is two amphitheatres built facing one another to form a fat ellipsis(?) where the ends end but don't touch. Now I know. What was really interesting was to see the line between where it had been cleaned and where the dirt remained, more from air pollution than from weather damage.
Scott and others had warned me about the schemes of pickpockets who spill a drink on you and take your wallet when you're not looking... Italian men selling goods and prints who follow you down the street trying to get you to buy something... gypsies who hand you a baby and refuse to take it back until you give them money... all very creative. I wish I could say the Colesium was without its money-making schemes. For any hot, built dark-haired guys... Have you been working in that dead-end job far too long? Wish you were cool like Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator? Dream of exotic lands where you can make money just by playing with your sword and hanging on the ladies? Need a place to vent that raging bad temper of yours? Then you too can be a Colesium warrior! Do you fight? No. Do you answer to the emperor? No. Do you have to even break a sweat? Well, only if it's hot outside. Just dress in the gladiator costume and take photos alongside 60- and 70-something women on bus tours. But it's not all fun and games. If you catch someone taking a photo of you without tipping, then you get to lay into them with every foul word and Italian gesture you can imagine. Sign up starts tomorrow at the concierge desk.
We paused at the Triumph/Victory (?) Arch, the first arch used to symbolize a military victory.
I'll fill in more details when I get my info straight. Explained below.
We walked all the way around the Coliseum looking for just the right angle and saw an odd, out-of-place piece of technology. An airbag was set up on the ground along the edge of the Coliseum wall, the kind used when someone (intentionally) falls out of a window or jumps off a building. Then we saw the movie cameras. Then we saw the actress. Evidently, an Italian star but no one we recognized. I took a photo anyway.
We made our way back to the Metro, switched trains at the Termini, and started walking towards the Pantheon. Within steps after exiting the Metro, we passed the Spanish steps, a gathering place for people to sit in the afternoon.
The steps have some historical significance, like everything else in this country. However, in light of everything else I've learned about monuments, artists, obscure histories, and the like, I have forgotten the story of the steps. I'll have to ask Scott tomorrow. On to the Pantheon...
I remember studying the Pantheon way back in 1988 in Mrs. Thomas's art history class at Heritage High, and it was surreal (I plan to overuse that word often) to be standing in front of it after all these years. International travel wasn't something that people from my childhood talked about. It just wasn't something that people did. I didn't study abroad as a student because I was a student athlete who was always in season. Yet if circumstances were different, I probably would have let the opportunity pass me by. Either due to financial limitations or short-sightedness, I never thought I would actually go, even though I started creating my international wish list since that first art class. Now, not only do I want to go once, I want to return several times. Yesterday I rubbed the boar's nose, so I'm hoping a return trip to Firenze is in my future. I am incredibly fortunate to have these opportunities, and I am determined to make them available to our students, even the ones who don't think they have the time or the means to go.
But I digress... again...
In my mind, the Pantheon (and the Parthenon, which I hope to see very soon) was set high on a hill outside of town but visible from almost anywhere in town. And I was surprised when Scott said, It's just around the corner up here. And then we were there.
Like the Colesium, the Pantheon was lowered than the ground that surrounded it. It was designed and built using the basic geometric shapes - square, circle, triangle. It is the first building with an oculus (sp?), an opening in the center top of the dome. I have heard different explanations: 1) so the statues of the gods, which sat around the walls of the circle, would all be lit by sunlight throughout the days and changes in seasons; 2) so the gods could come and go even when the doors were closed. I like both explanations. We talked about whether the opening was covered with glass or something else to prevent rain from coming in. Mary Beckinsale (SACI president) later told us that it is still open, no glass. It's nice that some things about it haven't been updated. In some instances, that's not the case. I use past tense when talking about the original purpose of the building because it has quite a different purpose now. The building once built for and that housed the pagan gods has been converted into an actively used Catholic church. It's odd to see Christian symbols where Roman gods once stood. Disappointing.
The last stop on the Rome (non-Vatican) tour was the Trevi Fountain. But nature had other plans for us. Within minutes of leaving the Pantheon, we were swept up in an Alfred Hitchcock sequel. See for yourself.
And it didn't take long before I got pooped on. A minor poop, but still! Good luck or not, I can live without it!
The Trevi Fountain was an incredible place to walk past or near because you could hear the water falling long before you saw the fountain.
We approached from behind it, and as it came into full view, I was amazed. First by its scale, and second by the care that had been taken of it. Every piece of marble still looked as pristine as the day they were placed. The perfect evening was capped with, yep, another gelado. Frutti di bosco again. Yum! Per tradition, Scott and I both threw coins into the Trevi with wishes for prosperity and good health. Over the shoulder, of course.
- Dinner with caprese... enough said!
Then back to the Beehive for a chat with two 19-year-old recent high school graduates from Australia (outside Melbourne). They were traveling during their gap year, the year between high school graduation and the start of college. Another hostel room occupant had been traveling for months throughout Europe and Eurasia and is returning home to Las Vegas in the morning. Small world, he lived in Greensboro for a short time.
Vatican City and American University of Rome are tomorrow.
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